


Only Dreams

by Nightlightgoth



Series: Three Houses One-Shots [2]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Golden Deer Route Spoilers, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-08-26
Packaged: 2020-09-27 04:16:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20401531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nightlightgoth/pseuds/Nightlightgoth
Summary: Everyone has PTSD. Byleth helps Linhardt cope.AKA I'm sorry I made the man cry in this one.





	Only Dreams

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BurdieDee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BurdieDee/gifts).

It had been an especially long day, which was saying something considering that every day had seemed especially long since Byleth woke up in the middle of a war. Still, something about this day in particular had worn her down and left her feeling exhausted. She supposed that was the price she had to pay as queen. She was more than willing to pay it if it meant her country stayed united after everything she’d worked for.

She ran a hand over her face with a sigh. Time seemed to stretch on and on before her -an irony that was not lost on the queen- and no work ever seemed to get done. Her thoughts were interrupted by the familiar, comforting voice of Claude.

“Hey, Teach. Why don’t you go get some rest? I’ll take it from here,” he said with a smile.

“That’s all right. You have your own problems,  _ Your Highness _ .”

Claude made a noise of mock-disgust. “Do you have to call me that? It feels weird.”

Byleth grinned just enough for him to notice.

“Really, though. You’ve been working nonstop for days. Why don’t you go get some sleep? I’m sure Linhardt wants a nap right about now.”

“You aren’t going to take ‘no’ for an answer, are you?”

“I swear, sometimes it seems like you haven’t known me for years.” He winked and Byleth shook her head. “Go rest! I insist.”

Eventually, Byleth caved in and let Claude take over for her. She felt a distinct pang of guilt over it, given that he really did have his own problems to attend to, but she knew Claude. He wouldn’t let her keep working in her current state. Besides, a nap with Linhardt did sound like a great idea.

She checked his study first and found it empty, then tried the library. When that too proved fruitless, she headed to the one place she was sure he would be. She pushed open the door slowly, hoping not to wake him if he was already asleep. When she could see into the room, she found Linhardt where she’d expected: curled up around a pillow in their bed.

Byleth had tried to move quietly, even going so far as to take a fair amount of time shutting the door behind her to avoid making too much noise. She crossed the room without a creak from the floorboards. The moment she got beside the bed, she stopped. It wasn’t unusual for her to take a moment to study her husband’s peaceful, sleeping face. This time, though, Linhardt’s face wasn’t peaceful. His brow was tightly knit, and his eyes were squeezed shut as he mumbled words Byleth couldn’t quite make out.

After a minute of watching him, Byleth realized he must be having a nightmare. She put a hand on his shoulder and shook him gently. When that proved ineffective, she spoke just above a whisper.

“Linhardt, wake up.”

He stirred a second later only to startle Byleth enough to make her jump back when he sat upright with a gasp. His eyes were wide and a bead of sweat rolled down his forehead. Byleth didn’t realize she had her hand over her mouth in her shock until she moved it to reach for her husband.

“It’s all right,” she said, her voice low and steady. “I’m here.”

Linhardt looked over at her, panting, and immediately pulled her into his arms. She blinked at the suddenness of it, and at the unusual gesture from him, but sighed when she noticed how tightly he was clinging to her. She put her arms around him, one draped over his shoulder and the other tangling in his hair as she held him against her.

“It was only a dream,” she said as she stroked his hair. “Everything is fine.”

“It was so absolutely dreadful,” Linhardt said. His voice shook when he said it and Byleth’s chest ached. “It was far too real…”

“It was just a dream. Do you want to talk about it?”

He held his breath a second before sighing against her. “No. I just want you to hold me a moment.”

“Of course. Can I lie down? I actually came up here to nap with you.” Byleth chuckled lightly at that, hoping Linhardt would find the humor in it, too.

“Yes, that sounds nice.”

Byleth shed a few layers of her clothes for the sake of comfort and climbed under the comforter beside Linhardt. As soon as she had settled in, he clung to her again. His head rested on her shoulder and his arm wrapped around her middle, and Byleth wrapped her own around him as she pressed a kiss to the top of his head. He sighed a long and shaking sigh when she did.

“Will you – would you do me a favor?” Linhardt asked a long minute later.

“Hmm?”

“Would you stay awake with me for just a little while? I know that you came here to nap, and I’m sure you could use the rest, but I don’t know that I can fall asleep again just yet and don’t want to feel alone.”

“Of course.”

“Thank you. Would you do me one more favor?”

Byleth laughed softly and tilted her head to rest her cheek against him. “What do you need?”

“Tell me a story. I don’t care what about. Hearing your voice right now would be… nice. I need it to be a sort of anchor, I think.”

“An anchor?”

“Yes, that doesn’t make sense, does it? I feel as though I am still stuck in the war, watching everything, fighting for our lives sometimes. Not in the sense that I am stressed or anxious about it, though I suppose in a way I am, but more that I can see it clearly. I can feel it all as if I am right there.”

Byleth hummed her acknowledgment, not sure how to say that she understood in a way that would help him.

“It all seems too real, and the nightmares are terrible. They have been more frequent lately, but they are far more bearable with you here.”

“And listening to me helps?”

“Oh, very much so. But… please, no stories about fighting.”

Byleth nodded and thought a moment before starting a story about one of Claude’s many unforgettable schemes. She remembered clearly the stomach poison he had concocted and how, despite her forbidding it, he had decided to “test” it on Dimitri. To her relief, Linhardt laughed at that.

“Ah, so  _ that _ is why he was in the infirmary for days! Manuela could not come up with an explanation for the life of her. She was so afraid that she had failed as a healer.”

Byleth smiled and started another story, this time about Mercedes and Annette nearly burning down the dining hall one night. That was followed by a tale of Ferdinand’s misguided attempts at teaching Sylvain and Lorenz how to “properly” woo a woman, and then by one about Leonie and Felix putting each other in the infirmary three weeks in a row while sparring.

By the time she finished that story, she was yawning, but at least Linhardt seemed calmer. He seemed calm enough, in fact, that he said that he was ready to talk about his nightmare if Byleth didn’t mind. She told him that that was fine, and he took a deep breath to steady himself before he began.

Byleth listened, biting her lip and holding her breath to keep from reacting beyond the quiet acknowledgements and occasional soothing word Linhardt needed. It pained her deeply to hear about the scars Linhardt carried, especially knowing how closely they matched her own. Byleth had grown up like that, though, raised in a life where death and combat were the norm. Linhardt certainly had not. If she had weight from the war that still dragged her down, how could Linhardt be feeling?

He tried to keep his voice steady as he told her about his nightmares and about the frequent reminders of what they went through, but it cracked and shook. Byleth rubbed his back and squeezed him when he needed it. His pain was her own in more ways than one and seeing him like this cut her to the bone. She didn’t want to hear it, really, but she knew he had to say it, and so she listened. She listened through his tears and through the moments when his memories hurt him so deeply that his usual eloquence was lost to it.

When, finally, he had nothing more to say, Byleth simply held him as he cried. He held a fistful of her shirt and pressed his face against her chest as his body shook with sobs.

And then, for the first time in she didn’t know how long, Byleth cried too.

The two of them lay there, bathed in the sharp, warm light of the sun just before dusk, and held each other as their sobs carried them into the dark well after it set. The light of the moon poured in through their window when they eventually fell quiet and still. Byleth’s throat was tender and her voice scratched when she spoke again.

“Are you okay?” she asked. The question seemed ridiculous, considering, but she felt the need to ask it.

Linhardt sniffled before saying, “Yes. Yes, I think so. I think… Yes, I feel better now.”

Byleth kissed the top of his head again and he shifted, propping himself on his elbow to look at her. He gave her a soft, loving smile and although his face was puffy and red and streaked with dried tears, Byleth only saw how beautiful that smile was. She imagined she looked just as rough as him, but she couldn’t help but smile back and feel something in her chest that she could only describe as affection when his eyes lit up.

His lips were as soft and gentle as ever against hers, and she sighed into the kiss as if they hadn’t kissed a hundred times before. He pulled away to yawn, and Byleth laughed before doing the same.

“So, about that nap,” Linhardt said. Byleth pushed a stray strand of hair from his face, her fingers following the line of his jaw, and saw that his eyes were growing heavy.

“That sounds like a great idea.”

Linhardt kissed her once more before settling back down beside her. She held him a bit closer, and he held her a bit tighter, and the two of them drifted off. Neither woke until well after sunrise, and even then they decided that it might be worth it to stay in bed together just a bit longer.


End file.
